The government will make it an "urgent priority" to identify new sponsors for these schools, and re-open them in September 2012, he said.

The schools will not be named publicly, but will be approached by the Department for Education in the coming weeks and months.

The department said it would aim to turn a further 500 schools that had failed to reach the so-called "floor targets" in three of the past four years into academies after 2012.

The Education Bill currently being debated in Parliament would give the government the power to "intervene to turn around underperforming schools where authorities are recalcitrant or try to stand in the way of improvement", Mr Gove said.

But he hoped wherever possible to "find solutions that everyone can agree on".

Speaking to the BBC earlier, Mr Gove said academy status was "a tried and tested way" of getting the right head teacher in place to turn a school around.

Case studies

Knights Academy, formerly Malory School, in Lewisham, south-east London, was taken over by Haberdashers' Aske, which already runs several academies.

In nine months it has gone from being under "notice to improve" to "good with outstanding features", according to the schools watchdog Ofsted.

Principal Andrew Day says bringing in a new uniform and ethos made a major difference, although staff changes and training were also a factor.

"You have to transform the mindset of the children, the parents, the whole school, to get them to believe that this is an aspirational culture," he said.

However, Tony Draper, head of Water Hall Primary School near Milton Keynes, Bucks, has raised the number of pupils reaching the Sats benchmark from 42% in 2008 to 74% in 2009, without a change in leadership.

He says a takeover would have had a "negative impact". Raising standards has been done through "a lot of hard work" on the culture, teaching and learning in the school, and with a "supportive local authority", he says.

The school has also focused on the children's well-being and creating a calming environment.

Schools should be judged on a "broad measure of progress, not just crude statistics", he says.

The academies programme can be a "quick fix", but "it's not a silver bullet", he adds.

This enables them to extend the school day, run catch-up classes at the weekend or bring in expert psychologists and social workers, Mr Gove said.

He said 88 academies with outside sponsors had been set up in the 2011-12 academic year, bringing the total to 362.

'Confusion and distress'

Under Labour, the academies programme was focused on underperforming schools, but the coalition has widened it to all schools, with an initial focus on those rated "outstanding" by the schools watchdog Ofsted.

The total number of academies has now risen to 704, up from 203 a year ago, with applications submitted by a further 814 schools.

However, there are so far only about 100 primary academies open.

The National Union of Teachers accused Mr Gove of "breathtaking ignorance" in his belief that compelling primary schools to become academies would improve standards.

"The evidence does not support this," said general secretary Christine Blower.

"This is a totally unacceptable experiment to undertake with our primary school children."

"Simply closing schools and replacing them with academies will not have the impact sought but will cause a great deal of confusion and distress for parents, pupils and staff," she said.

The Association of School and College Leaders said it had "grave reservations" about the government's "simplistic approach".

Its general secretary, Brian Lightman, said: "Schools will only improve with the full commitment and buy-in of those who lead them. Takeover threats and perverse incentives do not achieve this. They alienate professionals, not engage them."

Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) deputy general secretary Martin Johnson said Mr Gove was "using draconian powers he has given himself in the Education Bill to run schools from Whitehall".

"Closing and opening schools and finding sponsors for them on this scale will be a logistical nightmare. Once again, Michael Gove is making up policy on the hoof and leaving others to sort out the mess," he said.

But National Association of Head Teachers general secretary Russell Hobby said: "If a school remains far below the floor standards for years, with no sign of improvement, and if it has had good quality support, then of course we need a radical solution."

And Specialist Schools and Academies Trust chief executive Elizabeth Reid said academies set up to replace failing schools had "shown dramatic improvements in many cases".

"The same 'can-do' attitude and drive to succeed which has transformed education in those schools can be transferred to persistently underperforming primary schools," she said.

Floor targets

Mr Gove argues that academies drive up standards, but critics say they risk fragmenting state education by undermining the role of the local authority.

On Wednesday it was revealed Mr Gove wanted to raise the floor target for secondary schools to having to secure five good GCSEs for at least 50% of pupils.

At present a school is assessed as underperforming if fewer than 35% of pupils get five GCSEs at grades A* to C, including maths and English.

For primary schools, the target is 60% of pupils achieving level four in English and maths in the national curriculum tests known as Sats.

Also, for either a primary or a secondary school to be considered underperforming, more pupils than the national average must be failing to make the expected amount of progress in maths and English.

Comments

Comment number 4.

Margaret12th November 2012 - 21:45

Ruthless! Some of the next 400 "worst performing" schools in England are wonderful established places of learning with good teachers but full of children with English as a second language. Schools such as mine, previously judged as good or satisfactory (a category now unfairly re-classed as "requires improvement"). Gove knows NOTHING about education but he leads us down a pathway of destruction.

Comment number 3.

Blinkybilly12th November 2012 - 18:43

As usual a one size fits all industrial model of education is perpetuated. When will someone in government realise that a school is more than numbers on a piece of paper! If Ofsted was fit for purpose it would have helped raise standards across all schools by now, rather than perpetuate the shrinking of our education system, as further shown by the new narrow primary curriculum being discussed.

Comment number 2.

Philip Begley12th November 2012 - 18:00

If our schools are doing well, with high pass rates in exams, then why do we have the highest ever unemployment rate in 16-24 group. And why do potential employers complain of lack of basic skills in young adults? Is it because we have turned exams to similar to taking a driving test? You learn how to pass a test, but you still don't know how to actually drive a car. Something is wrong somewhere.

Comment number 1.

stephengreg12th November 2012 - 14:26

Gove is determined to change the face of education,I trust in years to come he will be held responsible for the negative effect it will have on our society --cloned children,stressed teenagers,teachers without any real social empathy,acadamy organisations pushing their seperate agendas and big business laughing all the way to the ban. Thanks Balls,Blair Gove and Cameron !!!

BBC links

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.